A superconducting material exhibits no electrical resistance when cooled below its characteristic critical temperature. Although high-temperature superconductor materials, which have critical temperatures higher than the 77K boiling point of nitrogen, have been identified, these materials are often exotic (e.g., perovskite ceramics), difficult to process, and unsuitable for high-field applications. Thus, for practical superconducting applications requiring wires and coils and bundles thereof, the metallic superconductors Nb—Ti and Nb3Sn are most often utilized. While these materials have critical temperatures below 77K, the relative ease of processing these materials (e.g., drawing into wires) when compared to ceramic-based solutions, as well as their ability to operate at high currents and high magnetic fields, have resulted in their widespread use.
Typical metallic superconducting wires feature multiple strands (or “filaments”) of the superconducting phase embedded within a copper (Cu) conductive matrix. While this has resulted in the successful fabrication of metallic superconducting wires utilized for a host of different applications, the resulting wires often exhibit insufficient mechanical strength. While the copper matrix surrounding the superconducting filaments does provide some mechanical stability, copper is a very ductile, easily deformed material. Thus, there is a need for improved metallic superconducting wires incorporating a mechanical stabilizer that is sufficiently ductile (and thus drawable into wire) and that does not excessively diffuse into the copper (or Cu-based) wire matrix (and thus compromise its conductivity) during elevated heat treatments.